


Swapping Hues

by Stereomime



Category: ROTTMNT - Fandom, TMNT - Fandom, tmnt 2012 - Fandom, tmnt 2018
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stereomime/pseuds/Stereomime
Summary: Donatello decides to work on a project with the mystic crystal in his lab but something goes terribly wrong.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 166





	1. Hang in there, baby!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a TMNT fanfiction, in fact this is my first time writing one at all! I always wanted more crossover content so I took it upon myself to try a crack at writing some material. I hope you enjoy, criticism and feedback much appreciated. <3

He stood in an unfamiliar room. It was like _his_ room but it wasn’t. It was in the sewers, he knew it was, but it wasn’t _his_ sewer. 

Scattered projects littered the desk and floor of the fraud bedroom, it was like deja-vu but he knew he'd never been in or seen this place before. A large mirror that hangs in the middle of the concrete walls catches his attention. He looks into it and glares at the reflection. This was not his reflection, this was a different Donatello. He didn’t know how, but he knew it was him, like some sort of younger alternation of his very being. This was not his reflection. This was his doppelgänger. 

Donnie’s heart pounded heavily with the fear of not knowing what was going to happen next, as the reflection blinked out of sync with him. The reflection reached its arm out of the mirror slowly. The fraud in the glass, trying to extend its hand to him. Its intentions were alien. 

Donatello woke up, letting out a sharp gasp.

Tossing and turning the turtle began to wrap the sheets of his bed around his body like a burrito. It was unusually cold tonight and he just couldn't get comfortable. The sheets were too thin to give him any warmth. He had no choice but to give in and get up to put something warmer on. Don climbed down the little ladder that supported the leveled pod he stored his mattress in. 

As the turtle got down from the bed, he gave his soft shell a light scratch. He put on an old worn-out purple hoodie above his pajamas and headed to the kitchen. Don figured if he couldn't sleep he might as well just get some coffee and work in his lab. He pulled out his phone to look at the time. "5:26 AM" he uttered to himself. It wasn't too much sleep lost, in fact, 5 am was pretty good for someone like himself. 

Usually, someone else would be sneaking around the lair at this time, especially Leon but it seemed everyone else was asleep. It was cold but peaceful as everyone else silently slept. Donnie started the coffee press and got out his favorite second-hand mug. It had a picture of a kitten clinging to a tree branch with the phrase "Hang in there, baby!" Underneath the image. He browsed the popular tab of Reddit for a few minutes on his phone as he waited for the coffee to pour. 

Donnie looked up from his phone for a second to look around the room. Yep, still empty. Everyone else is still sound asleep. Again, it was unusual that there wasn't at least one other turtle or rat up sneakily playing games in the living room or trying to grab a midnight snack. However, this really wasn't a concern. It was pretty nice actually. Don grabbed the mug and gave it a quick, hasty sip. It was fresh and hot so he burnt his tongue a little but it was worth it just for a little taste to start. He headed back into the depths of his lab and sat the mug and himself down at the desk. He had forgotten that it was chilly by the time he’d returned. The hoodie seemed to have helped. 

His bandana and goggles sat at the table. Donnie tied the bandana up around his face since he was up and pretty much wasn't going to go back to sleep, might as well get that out of way. However, he leaves the goggles on the desk, instead he unscrews the sides and tinkers with the mystic crystal he had installed inside of them. It was a strange and arcane little artifact he's snatched from the Baron. Donnie couldn't accept that magic or mystical items were "real" there had to be some sort of science behind it all, and with this crystal, he was going to figure it out. With _science_. Donnie snatched the sides of his headgear shut, adjusting them to his face. He analyzed the artifact with his homemade and admittedly very stylish headgear. Holding the crystal in his fingertips he scanned it and gathered data. It was an anomaly. The readings indicated it had an energy output greater than something of its physical size could produce, the readings were almost nonsensical. Nonetheless, he'd taken out a notepad from the drawer of his desk and wrote down the data being output by his goggles. Some of the pages have little doodles of goofy expressions and hearts. Mikey must've borrowed it sometime earlier. 

He didn't want to admit it. Not even to himself, but honestly? Donnie didn't know where to start on this thing. he supposed he could try to use it as a power source or try to drain whatever mystical essence was powering the crystal. He hypothesized the crystal itself was a container that somehow generates a source of energy from an unknown origin. The softshell stared at it for what felt like forever as he continued to analyze the arcane jewel. He slipped off his goggles and rubbed at his watery eyes. Donnie set the headgear and crystal down on the surface of the desk and took a long sip from his mug. “Hang in there, baby!” 

He lifted the mug from his lips and stared into the distorted reflection glaring back at him. It was his reflection but seeing it made him remember something familiar. The dream. He had forgotten about that dream, the _nightmare_ he had from just before. Only, this reflection belonged to him, it wasn’t some other turtle, this was _his_ tired, mopey expression staring back from the depths of his motivational mug.

As he pondered, his face slowly sinking into the mug, he took a deep breath and huffed. He rested his eyes for a few minutes, trapped in deep thought, trying to remember the dream that apparently shook him so bad he woke up. Alas the vivid visuals of that dream escaped him, the longer he tried to think about it, the fuzzier it became. It was frustrating but nothing significant to him so with one swift motion of his free hand he lifted his face back up, resting it on his knuckles. He looked back to the crystal, it was shimmering and softly glowing a beautiful hue of magenta. He held it in his hands again and he could feel a gentle hum of energy surge through his fingertips emanating from the arcane item. 

He wondered, could he use it to power his inventions, his machines? It felt powerful for sure… 

Donatello took another long sip from his peppy mug. He slammed it down dramatically on the surface of the desk and lifted his exigent body up out of the chair. With a teary-eyed yawn, he stretched his back giving it a good crack. “Let’s get to work” barked the internal voice in his skull. Don took off his hoodie and pajamas. He readied his goggles over his brow. Striding over to the selection of battle-shells, he gave his soft hunch an itch as he gazed at his _babies_. *click* He releases the _spider shell_ from the rack and lets it connect itself to his own shell. 

Donatello had previously been working on a very particular and ambitious invention this month, a gateway to the hidden city. It was built like a bulky but sleek door frame, padded thick with steel protecting the inner workings. He’d used most of his lab’s resources to build this machine in particular. It was hard to miss, even in Donnie’s lab. It was a _very_ ambitious project. Going out to find specific walls to draw the emblem on or taking a trip through the dumpster was beginning to become a hassle for the purple-clad turtle. He wanted to figure out how to make his own entrance to the city, a more efficient one. It couldn’t be _that_ hard, right?

He’d been working on the structure of the gateway and trying to figure out how to engineer such a device, the softshell could’ve sworn he was so close to figuring it out, but every time he swore he figured it out, there was a new problem. This time, this time he vowed to himself. He’d figure it out. Maybe it was the power source? Maybe what he needed to use wasn’t a manmade power source, but a mystic one!

Donatello’s internal monologue babbled on as his artificial limbs cling to the side of the gateway. As he continued to lose himself in the deep one-sided debate, the spider claws did the work for him. They unscrewed and opened the delicate section that held the device’s power source, Donnie wasn’t even paying all that much attention to his physical actions. He didn’t need to as his brilliant battle shell did the work for him. The claws delicately pull out the power generator and unplug it from the gateway’s internal wiring. Donnie snaps himself out of speech mode and takes the time to concentrate on plugging the new power source into his device, the crystal.

Everything is in place, he stands back marveling at his creation. The spider claws fold back into his shell. “ _This time”._ He uttered under his breath. Don stood backward and moved alone to a makeshift control panel protected behind a blast screen, you never know when things are going to blow up, better be safe than sorry. He readjusted the colorful lensed goggles covering his eyes and scrunched his face a little as he got ready to activate the gateway. His marker eyebrow twitched as he slowly and dramatically slid his fingertip down the panel of buttons until it made contact with the big red one. 

Without further hesitation; he pushed the button. Mechanical whirring started to fill the lab, the gateway coming to life. The edges of the device light up with a brilliant purple, his favorite color of course. The gateway was demanding in volume, louder than usual, more powerful. Purple sparks of energy swarm and flicker through the gaps of the outside shell holding it all together. Donnie teared up as he watched his magnificent invention come to life, he’d wipe his eyes if he could but removing his goggles would be thoughtless, especially right now as mystic sparks flew through the air. 

It was working. The machine cracked and fizzled as the energy built up, slowly the entrance glowed and hummed a soft purple, it was working. The thrill of success enthralled the turtle so much that he didn’t hear his brother screaming out to him.

“Donnie! What the heck are you doing? It’s 5 in the damn mornin’! We _talked_ about this.” Yelled a booming voice that was hostile yet, concerned in tone. The voice snaps the purple-clad prodigy out of his awe and he whisks his head around, goggles still tightly strapped to his face, to find who the voice belongs to.

It was his older, _bigger_ brother, Raphael. He wore a tired and irritated expression, fiddling with the braces holding his snaggletooth in place. Don should’ve realized the roaring and clamorous sounds of his device would have woken him up. Donnie goes to give Raph a nervous smile and a wave, opening his mouth to excitedly give his big brother an info dump on his latest scheme. 

Before Don can even get a single word out, the entire lab interrupts into shaking and jittering. Donnie’s portal whirls violently, the soft hues of purple glowing from the center now an aggressive and sharp violet. It hisses as it rocks the lab, Donnie grabs a hold of his tech-bo to steady himself as the ground callously tries to shake him off his balance. Raphael screams out for his brother but isn’t so lucky. The force sends him tumbling to the ground. 

Papers, small objects, everything and anything light enough is sent flying into the air, an incredible current of mystic energy travels through the laboratory. Donnie can feel it pulsing through his body, it’s sucking him forwards. Donatello thrashes and panics as the force of the gateway begins to suck anything not bolted to the floor. Like second nature his mechanical spider claws spring out of his back and claw desperately at the ground. 

The metallic claws let out an awful banshee screech as they scrape against the hard, concrete floor. Raph tries to lift himself up again, he gets to his knees.*thunk*. Raph’s skull makes contact with a flying cabinet. He’s out cold. The structure of the gateway rattles. Loose wires seep out like vines and the metal exterior holding it together begins to peel away like stickers. The gateway is becoming extremely unstable, it’s falling in on itself. 

Donnie feels tears forming at the back of his ducts, he’s terrified. The light from the portal is powerful and floods the room, but Donnie can make out 2 distinct figures in the doorway of his lab, peering out but unable or too afraid to move closer because of the machine’s meltdown. 

“Help! Help!” cries out the purple-clad turtle desperately. His cries are futile as his battle-shell’s limbs give in. Donatello is sent flying into the unknown of the unstable portal.

“I can’t breathe.” 

Donatello opens his eyes slowly to try to figure out his new surroundings. There is no ground, no sky, no walls. He feels as if he is underwater and he can’t breathe. Patterns ooze and swirl around him like the inside of a lava lamp, colors and hues he’s never seen before, that he can barely comprehend buzz around. He can’t breathe, but he’s not panicking. The energy of the vortex feels calm and alien. Just as he begins to feel like he can even try to process how and where he is, it feels like something begins to drag him under the surface of the ocean of colors and hues. 

He tries to gasp for air but nothing comes out, he’s being pulled downwards but nothing’s there. He’s pulled down faster and faster, the once calm and vibrant imagery swirling around races past and becomes nauseating. He tries to scream but just as before, nothing can escape his throat.

As he continues to speed downwards, a familiar and vibrant purple shines from below. The end of the portal. He’s dragged down faster and faster towards the end of the lava lamp liquid ride. Just as he falls towards the edge of the purple gateway, a figure flashes by him, being pulled upwards. It’s hard to see exactly what it was since both of them were moving so fast. Yet he could vaguely make it out, green, purple… Humanoid. 

THUD. 

Donatello arrives at his unknown destination, colliding face-first with the ground. He’s knocked out cold. The portal behind him seals itself away, purple sparks flickering one last time.


	2. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His mind was fogged and thick like a cloudy sky. Murky speckles of memories whispered to him subconsciously. The gap-toothed turtle tried to remember what happened. There was a crystal and portal, but then what?

His mind was fogged and thick like a cloudy sky. Murky speckles of memories whispered to him subconsciously. The gap-toothed turtle tried to remember what happened. There was a crystal and portal, but then what? He struggled to get a grip on his consciousness. He needed to get up. Donatello fought against the pain and tension in his head that was keeping his body down. Flashes of a surreal void and its motley colours surrounded him and spun around like he was trapped in a funhouse tunnel. 

Donatello finally opened his eyes, but he couldn’t move. He had awakened to find himself laying on his plastron, his vision fuzzy. Don’s head was too sore to lift and his body was demanding him to stay down. The young turtle breathed through the gap between his teeth. He swallowed back the feeling of fear that was forming in the back of his throat. The turtle gave himself a moment to breathe and to panic a little less.   
  
As he breathed, trying to keep his pounding heart in check, his vision began to clear. He eyed the room around him carefully. The walls were brick and the floor beneath was concrete, colourful graffiti littered the walls. It felt oddly homely. Don lightly rubbed his head against the furniture he was laying on. It was soft and welcoming, he was surrounded by pillows on a… Couch? 

“Whose couch is this?” he thought to himself, feeling himself lightly sink further into the cuddly pile. He was in a sewer, but it wasn’t the one he recognised. Donnie felt his head start to pound again. He tried to sit up once more, but all he could do was let out a distressed wheeze.

The gap-toothed turtle felt his spine shiver. The sound of large footsteps made their way towards him outside of his field of view. He couldn’t see who or what was coming. His poor heart started to pound hastily again. He felt the presence of a very large entity behind him. He gulped dryly and closed his eyes tight. He was afraid, his surroundings were foreign and he could barely move. The purple-masked turtle feared, uncertain what was going to happen.

Softly, Donatello felt an enormous but tender hand pat his shell.  
“Hey buddy, are you feeling alright?” murmurs a rough but gently spoken voice.

Donnie’s strained expression fades as he opens his eyes again. His fear is replaced by confusion as the large reptile comforts him instead of anything malicious. It’s a large… Turtle? Alligator? His skin is tough and a light hue of lime-green but the expression that meets his is one that is benevolent and patient, concerned. The figure wears a red bandana that covers the top of his head. Plain, square bandages litter his body as well as a distinctive, pink kids bandaid taped haggardly to the side of his cheek.

“You hit your head really hard coming outta that portal, gate... Uhm, thingy.” The colossal stranger tries to explain, stroking his bruised cheek with the pink bandaid.

Donatello blinks up at the red-clad reptile. He clears his throat as best he can and dryly responds.  
“A… gateway?” he utters softly. His throat feels incredibly dry, how long has he been knocked out? The figure had said something about a portal… Through his pounding and screaming headache, that phrase jogs his memory. 

Donatello weakly gestures the large mutant to give him some space to think. He begins to remember the events that led to this unfamiliar territory. 

Earlier this morning Donatello had started experimenting with Kraang technology. It was a few weeks ago he’d gotten his hands on a precious artifact the alien crooks were desperate to guard. It was a small, beautifully bright purple crystal and it was a very powerful source of energy. 

Not very proficient with the alien tech, he was oblivious to what hazards awaited him. Yet he was determined to figure out how it worked. The gap-toothed turtle took it upon himself to try to recreate the portals the Krang were using to travel back and forth all across the city. If he could figure this technology out, he could get his brothers and himself around New York faster than ever before. They could get to the location of emergencies within seconds. The lanky turtle had lost himself in thought, forgetting about the gator-like stranger who’d been guarding him tenderly. 

==================================================

Raphael had been standing over the strange new, purple mask-wearing turtle for a while now. The red turtle had been trying to give them comfort as they seemed to be in an awful lot of pain, not that he wasn’t himself. Taking a cabinet to the head had given him a pretty nasty bruise, but nothing Raph couldn’t handle. The turtle laying below him came speeding out of Donnie’s failed invention like a bullet. He was worried that the purple-masked turtle might’ve hit his head a little too hard, as they didn’t respond to him, glaring with an expression like they were deep in thought. It reminded him of his currently missing purple brother.

“Do you need food, water, more pillows?” Raph softly asks his foreign guest. The purple-masked turtle snaps out of his inner ramblings and concentrates on the larger turtle again.

“Who are you, whe- where is this place?” The gap-toothed turtle stutters awkwardly.  
“Well, first thing; I’m Raph and this is the livin’ room. You fell outta a thing in my brother’s lab.” Raph explains to the turtle. The snapping turtle gives a sigh.  
“I had a bad feelin’ about this invention, Don.” Raph mutters to himself with an annoyed yet worried look in his eyes. 

The gap-tooth turtle’s eyes light up widely.  
“Don? But that's, it’s my nam- RAPH?” the purple-masked turtle stumbles over his own words, taken aback.   
“But, but, you’re HUGE and not being a total jerk?” He blurts out, the current situation scrambling his brain.   
“Hey! Raph ain’t a jerk. I’m loveable and handsome.” Raph jokingly replies to the stuttering mess of a turtle on the couch.

Donnie takes a moment to breathe. Then it clicks.  
“Oh my god, I’m in another dimension!” The gap-toothed turtle gasps.  
“This can’t be… I can’t” He stutters again with a nervous laugh trailing behind his stumbling sentence. The cogs in Raph’s head begin to turn and he slowly begins to understand but at the same time not really.   
Raph tilts his head and squints, examining the gap-toothed turtle. 

“Donnie? No, no… You can’t be, you don’t even look like him.” Raph exclaims, scratching the back of his neck.   
Imposter Donnie tries to sit up again. His body dictates him desperately, too sore. Instead, the fraud turtle manages to fall off the side of the couch, clumsily now on the back of his shell.  
“ow.” 

Raph walks around to the side of the couch that the gap-toothed turtle fell and offers him a hand. The purple-masked turtle tries to stand but his legs wobble like jelly. Raph gently uses both hands to help place the smaller, purple turtle back on the couch. Faux Donnie slumps over and huffs. Raph sits down next to him on the couch, placing his weight down slowly. 

“Let me get this straight. You’re somehow, anotha’ Donatello?” The larger turtle questions, with a puzzled expression.

“And you’re supposed to be Raphael? This is all so..” The fraud Donnie gives out another nervous chuckle as he rubs his temples.   
“By Darwin’s beard... I accidentally invented alternate dimensional travel..” The purple turtle utters. His tone that of either utter disbelief or cold realisation. Raph can’t really tell, he’s mostly just concerned for the little guy.

“I’m gonna grab some snacks and maybe an ice pack. I’ll be back real quick, don't go anywhere.” Raph informs his gap-tooth guest, lifting himself off the couch. Donnie doesn’t pay attention. The purple-clad turtle utters under his breath, blabbering all his thoughts out as he tries to process the new information.

The alternate Donnie sits back into the hoard of pillows overtaking the couch. He sighs heavily and lets his limbs relax briefly. “Holy flying sewer rats…” he utters. Donatello was in an imitation of his living room, an imitation of his home in an imitation of his world. Was it even fair to call it an imitation or was he the im- 

“Raph’s back!” the large, red-banded turtle cheerfully calls out, a little less gently than what his tone was last time he was around the purple imposter. The lanky Donnie once again snaps back to reality and turns his head to look up at the towering turtle. The adventitiously, large Raphael tilts his head giving the gap-tooth turtle a perturbed look.

“You’re seriously beginning to worry me. Did you get brain damage?” Raph asks, furrowing his brow.

“Ugh no- what? No, I’m fine, physically at least...” The purple-masked turtle stumbles a little over his words again. He thought Raph was being sarcastic with that question at first but then realises he’s being serious. 

The fraud Donatello gives a weighted sigh and then rolls his eyes at the larger reptile.   
“I’m really feeling fine. Being trapped in a new universe all by myself is really great.” The gap-tooth turtle clenches his teeth as he finishes his sentence. This spout of sarcasm makes Raph huff and return the favour with his own eye-roll.   
“Well I guess you aren’t that off from my brother.” he dryly replies, his cheerful and soft mood replaced with slight annoyance. However, it doesn’t seem to take long for the bulky red-banded turtle to brush it off. He plops a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos onto the nerd’s lap. 

Raph leans over the couch, a second bag of fiery Cheetos occupying his hands. The sizeable turtle pulls the bag open easily with a satisfying and swift pop. Donnie watches as Raph reaches his two bulky fingers into the bag slowly. The red-banded turtle pinches into the foiled bag and plucks out a single, red-hot Cheeto. Raph places the Cheeto into his beak and crunches it at a leisurely pace. 

Donnie continues to stare up at him. An awkward tension builds up in the atmosphere. Raph continues to munch the single snack and starts to feel the weight of the faux turtle’s stare weigh on him. Raph stops crunching as he feels a little pinch of anxiety fills his chest. 

“What?” Raphael blurts out, adding further to the silent tension.  
“N-Nothing- Sorry, this is just so…” Donatello begins to trail off.   
Raph lets out a winced sigh. 

“I know it’s weird, I think so too alright?” The larger turtle admits as he rubs two hefty, red-stained fingers over the bridge of his eyes. 

“I’ve never had to look after an alternate version of my brother before, okay? I’m trying my best here!” Raph starts to ramble nervously.

“Ok dude it’s fine! It’s not you- Well I mean it kinda is you but- I don’t mean like that! I just mean-“ Donnie interrupts Raph to start his own rambling. 

“Alright, I’m going to stop you right there, uhh, Don.” Raph counters the purple-masked turtle to end the verbal roundabout. 

“This is a bizarre situation and as amazing as it is that you came from another dimension; It’s stressful, it’s scary. And that's okay.” Raph talks down to his alternate brother in his soft, gentle voice again. He rubs his snack dust-covered digits off on his belt and places a gentle hand on the gap-tooth turtle’s shoulder. Don winces as Raph touches him, subconsciously still prepared to have taken a hit instead.

“Me and my brothers are pretty scared too, you know? We’re worried about our Don and I’m sure your brothers are worried too.” Raph huffs a little. He takes a moment to stop his little speech and take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry about this… whole situation, it’s a lot to handle right now and I’m sorry if I’ve been overbearing. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” Raph trails off, his pep talk becoming less peppy and more apologetic.  
Donatello places his hand on top of Raph’s much larger one and paps it. He gives the larger turtle a tired but sincere smile. 

“Well… I mean I guess it’s not that bad! It’s not like anyone’s dead, just that… We’re in the wrong place?” The gap-toothed turtle remarks to his bizarre, alternate brother. He gestures the larger hand off of his shoulder and slowly spins around to fully face Raph. 

“I suppose I’m getting used to this now. It’s just all so juxtaposing! You know my Raph is really short and angry. It’s kinda hilarious.” Donnie chuckles a little and leans further onto the couch. 

“Is that why you were acting so antsy?” Raph questions, he blinks a few times at the gap-tooth turtle, now feeling a little self-conscious. 

“Well, kind of. I’ll admit at first I thought you were Slash because of your stature. So that freaked me out a bit.” Donnie admits with a nervous chuckle.

“Erm, who now?” Raph questions, itching his scalp.  
“Eh, no one. Don’t worry about it.” The purple-masked turtle brushes off his question and answers him instead with another.

“So are you and all your brothers in this universe as substantial?” the smaller turtle asks.  
“Naw, I’m the biggest outta everyone here! I’m pretty strong and tough too!” The red-loving turtle proudly answers as a genuine and excited grin stretches across his face.

“It’s cause’ I’m a snapping turtle! I think part alligator too according to Donnie.” The snapper continues.

“You mean an alligator snapping turtle, right?” The gap-tooth turtle corrects.

“Yeah, that's the one! Though he calls me a common snapper when he’s angry with me.” Raph crosses his arms in mock anger. He doesn’t like it when his Donnie misidentifies his species on purpose.

The alternate Donnie can’t help but laugh at the snapping turtle. There’s something incredibly charming about his light-hearted display of ‘toughness’ that it makes him smile a little. In a way, it reminds him of his own red-loving brother. Sure Raph likes to act tough, even violent. But deep down he was a total softie whether he wanted to admit it or not. And he could see the same in this version of the red-banded terrapin. Something about having a connection, even a small one like this; made Donnie feel more comfortable in his situation. 

The purple-loving nerd let out a deep exhale, feeling a lot more relaxed than he was just a few minutes ago.

“So. You feeling better?” The snapper asks, also seeming a little more relaxed himself.   
“You know what? Yeah. But I am still pretty tired.” the purple terrapin answers, and it was true. He was feeling better, physically even. His body was still a bit sore but not throbbing with pain like it was when he first woke up.

Raphael walks around to the front of the couch so he can sit down too. Donnie turns himself back around to be seated properly again and as he does he feels a crinkle against his leg. He looks down to examine the still unopened bag of Flamin Hot Cheetos and firmly picks it up. He opens it up, with a far less satisfying pop than Raph’s, and digs his hand into the cheesy snack bag. He grabs a handful and crunches down on the red-hot snacks.

“Thanks, dude.” The gap-toothed terrapin mutters through a mouthful of red dust.  
“Mmno Problem!” Raph happily replies, eating out of his own bag again.

“So where’s Leo and Mike? Mmn- your Leo and Mike?” Curiously mutters the alternate Donnie.

“Oh, getting pizza. They got hungry waiting for you to wake up earlier. I volunteered to keep watch over you ’til they come back.” The red-loving snapper casually answers as he licks dust off his stained fingers.

“Wanna watch a movie while we wait?” Raph asks as he gets off the couch. He makes his way over to the film projector. Donnie nods and gives a hum.  
“Do you like Lou Jitsu?” the snapper asks him.   
“Mmn never heard of it. What’s that?” he dryly responds, crinkling his hand around in the Cheeto bag. Raph scoffs in disbelief of his alternate brother’s answer.  
“Oh, man. You are gonna LOVE Lou Jitsu.”

  


[](https://ibb.co/MGS3NT9)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The long-awaited chapter 2!  
> I would love to give a huge thank you to Int0x who collaborated with me to do this lovely piece of artwork at the end of the chapter. They drew the lineart for Donnie and did the Background. You should go check them out their artwork is beautiful https://twitter.com/Cre8tiveInt0x
> 
> And another thank you to my beta-readers (On Twitter): @Dilophosaur13 @teetlesandnimj1 and @hotbelgianwafle you guys are awesome and your feedback always helps improve my writing.

**Author's Note:**

> My really nice friend helped give pointers/critique and read the draft for this chapter.  
> They are an extremely kind and fantastic writer. Thank you, Dawn.  
> Their account can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreams_to_dawn


End file.
